warriorsstepup wrote:Damn, would be my same reaction. I know he had the skill, but I did not think he was capable of doing all this, apparently dude is on a mission to prove he is an elite player who was over-shadowed by Westbrook, and Durant.

Its crazy what he is doing right now, I am speechless.

I agree.

Now, granted, the old argument is to cut down who he's put up these numbers against and with all due respect to Detroit, Atlanta, and Portland... the Hawks are the only playoff team in that discussion (and they might not even be an 8 seed in the West). The revamped, young and exciting Trail Blazers put an L in Harden's column, but regardless, he's still putting up 35.3 points, 6.3 boards, and 6.3 assists to start the season.

How far will the points drop?

Because I gotta believe, at 38ish minutes a night, he's gonna continue to put up the secondary numbers. So how long can he score over 30 per game? And when are the nearly 5 turnovers per game gonna catch up to him?

Aside from an 8-for-24 game against the Blazers, Harden's scorching the net this season. Easily over 50% at 23 attempts per night from everywhere on the floor. That's Jordan-like.

(while we're on the subject, Jeremy Lin is on a tear too: 15 points, 7 dimes, 6 boards, 2 steals per game.)

Harden had a tough time against the Blazer because Wesley Matthews was guarding him. In my opinion, Wesley is one of the top perimeter defenders in the league, and generally undervalued player.

I have not watched any of the Rockets games yet, but keeping this pace is unreal.

The effect on the Thunder: read somewhere the loss of Harden has put pressure on Durant to be more of a play maker and because of this he is turning the ball over alot more. Westbrook is a scoring point guard, so now opposing teams know to just zone in on both Westbrook and Durant and play Martin tight on the perimeter.

Guess Lin and Tebow just couldn't be in New York together. But I think Lin will play steady enough for them, will be interesting to watch them play.

Yea Mathews is underrated don't here too much about him.

Today should be another good indicator... Harden is more than likely gonna have to deal with the suffocating coverage of Andre Iguodala. If anyone's gonna slow Harden below 20 points, it's Iggy... Now how much will Harden force his shot is the question. If he puts up 19 points on 24 shots, he'll be exposed. If he puts up 19 while picking his spots and creates 6-8 dimes en route to a Houston win... Then this team is for real.

Iguodala certainly got Harden, well foreseen

Iguodala is the best perimeter defender in the league, if you ask me. Not many players can put up good numbers playing against him.

Thanks migs!

Denver really proved to be a matchup problem for Houston's back court... Lin and Harden shot a combined 7-for-24 (0-for-9 beyond the arc). Iggy made Harden cough the ball up 6 times, too. If the league paid any attention, they'll start guarding Harden with lengthy 3's and everyone guarding Lin should play him for the drive. I don't care if he hits 9 three's in a game; it's WAY less likely to happen and it seriously limits his ability to control the game and get his teammates involved.

Without their backcourt pushing them, Houston looked mediocre. I'm not saying anything anybody doesn't already know, but throwing off the Rocket's guards is the key to beating them. As Joe Frazier used to say, kill the body and the head will fall. If you stop Houston's legs, their bigs are in serious trouble.

Iguodala really is a great player, even if he doesn't score much, which has been the case for the last two seasons. That's why I wanted Iguodala the last few years, he makes a difference with that defense and allround play. He'd be a great fit for the team now, maybe having Barnes as a 6th man, strange as that sounds, as Barnes should be given every chance to develop and be the starting SF. Denver won't be stupid enough to let him go, but Philly might have been if our FO had gotten in before the others did.

I still think a good SG/SF can be traded for using AB or RJ next offseason.


Harden just had another horrible shooting game against Grizz this time.

After a meteoric two game start, Harden's season averages have flatlined.

He's still scoring 26.5 points, but he's shooting 44% from the field, 27% is lower than he's ever shot for 3, and his .568 TS% is nearly 100 points lower than what he shot last year (.660). The turnovers haven't slowed down either (5.0 per game, 2nd to only Jru Holiday's 5.7 fumbles a night). His team has suffered through his volume shooting since those first two contests, going 1-4 in that span while Harden hucks up 19.6 attempts per game on the season.

I suppose all hot streaks gotta stabilize at some point...

Anybody catch Harden's return last night?

Looked like a Norteño getting beat out of the gang. They black-bagged that dude HARD. Looked like Michael & Scottie D'ing up Kukoc in the 92 Olympics. I mean, Jesus. The Thunder not only beat the Rockets, they straight emasculated Harden. That dude was helpless as a lamb last night.

Harden has fallen back down to earth as such. Still, he is a good building block for the Rockets and they're better with him than without him. Thunder targeted him and did exactly what they wanted.